Flickr

I set up my Flickr account last week and have uploaded a couple of photos already. I have just come back from a week in Sierra Leone, where I have been helping a Developmental Charity called CODEP (www.codep.co.uk).

They aim to support-
- the construction of learning and literacy resources centres
- the establishment of school libraries and classrooms stocked with books and furniture
- functional literacy programmes
- teacher training programmes
- vocational training programmes
- un-schooled children and young adult literacy programmes

Last Friday, I attended the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the Equiano Centre, the new Learning Resource Centre which is being built in the Waterloo District. I will upload a selection of my photos onto the Flickr pages so all those interested can see how school and public libraries are organised in Sierra Leone. When I've uploaded some more photos I will use the 'Geotag' function to indicate where they were taken.

Managing Google Reader

I have now explored 'Manage Subscriptions' folder on Google Reader and have made folders to organise my feeds. I have also explored using the 'next bookmark' feature and I am hoping this will also help me manage my RSS feeds and blogs more efficiently.

RSS Feeds and Google Reader

A couple of weeks ago I set up my Google reader account and am now following lots of blogs and RSS feeds... in fact perhaps too many! When I signed into my account today I was amazed by the number of new posts to look through. It's almost too easy to have lots of Subscriptions so I decided to star my favourite ones and make those a priority to look at!

One of the feeds that did catch my eye was from CILIP, who have called on Gordon Brown to make school libraries statutory. The open letter was sent by the President of CILIP (www.cilip.org.uk/letter-pm) and stated

"Good school libraries and their librarians are an integral part of the teaching and learning process. Just as it is a statutory duty to employ qualified teachers and deliver the National Curriculum, so it should be a statutory duty to provide school libraries with qualified librarians as an essential part of every child’s entitlement to a decent education”.

Blogs Galore!

I have really enjoyed looking at fellow OULS bloggers and finding out about their 23 Things journey so far. It's great that several of the trainees are supporting the project and that so many people who have not blogged before are getting involved.

For anyone interested in finding out more about the OULS trainee scheme and 2009-2010 cohort see the Trainee Blog at http://oxfordtrainees.wordpress.com. If you were really interested then you could subscribe to the RSS feed too, in preparation for Things 5 and 6!

I found this sign when I was doing some research on censorship and the banning of certain books. I thought I might suggest placing such a sign outside all OULS libraries to warn any unsuspecting readers! The picture can be foundon the American Library Association website at http://www.ala.org/.

This is my current iGoogle Page. I had not used iGoogle at all before I started 23Things but have found it really useful to have a personalised area where I can view news, weather and maps.